Immanuel
It’s hard to hold out hope when it feels like God’s not there. Sometimes it feels like it got too hard for him and he’s just vanished, or that our sin has finally made him abandon us. Our prayers seem to go unanswered, like he’s not hearing us. And our hopes and expectations pass by unmet. It’s hard to hold out hope when it feels like God’s not there. The good news this season is that Jesus’ advent is God’s guarantee that he will always be with us
Light of the World
Wrong is called right. Truth is called lies. And everyone claims to have the same access and authority to say what’s right and true. My truth is mine and yours is yours, and that’s fine, as long as yours doesn’t infringe on mine. Our world tells us there is nothing concrete, nothing objective that sits behind any of our own competing interpretations of reality. And so, in a world that sits in darkness, how can we know what is good, what is right, what is true?
Prince of Peace
At Advent we celebrate Jesus’ identity as the Prince of Peace, and the truth that Jesus makes peace in a world of endless conflict. Jesus heals humanity’s divisions. He can make peace where war, division, and hatred seem inevitable
Mighty God
We all long for a hero to save us. To make everything better. It’s why we have so many superhero movies. But every superhero has a weakness and needs to rescue over and over. That’s because all our heroes are really just copies of the original, Jesus. Jesus is our Mighty Hero!
Lord of the Sabbath
For most of us, our default approach to life is control. Especially when things feel chaotic. Whether that’s controlling ourselves or other people or both. Whatever situation it may be, when we feel out of control, our default response is to grasp for it. But there is something more powerful, attainable, and fulfilling than control: mercy. And the fact is mercy always triumphs over control.
In with the New
Novelty is deeply threatening, especially when people have built their lives around the old way.” We’re constantly faced with the decision to reject the next innovation, the new model, etc. or to forgo our own comfort and way of doing things and accept the new. Nowhere is this truer than with Jesus and his kingdom. What we must realize this morning is that you cannot follow Jesus and cling to your old life.
Authority to Forgive
Luke 5:17-26 by Ethan Seifried
We think forgiveness needs to be earned. But what Jesus shows us in healing the paralytic is that God’s forgiveness rests on His authority not our ability..
